Families Affected By Imprisonment Project (Lanarkshire)
As Covid continues to impact on our ability to deliver face to face work our women’s group work has continued over these last few months via Zoom. Members of the group have continued to work alongside FABI team members, including our current social work student, focusing on the themes of ‘Managing Stress and Anxiety’, ‘Harm Reduction’ and ‘Parenting’. Despite the inherent challenges of delivering such complex group work remotely they have been a wonderful success by providing an interactive and inclusive space for women to share their thoughts and experiences.
Our current group work sessions on ‘Parenting’ have included conversations about attachment accompanied by a great deal of learning and exploring into how women are able to recognise and identify with the ‘SHANARRI’ (Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected, Responsible and Included) indicators.
One popular interactive activity is the development of each women’s ‘Tree of Life’ where each women visually creates the various experiences that make up their past, present and future as portrayed in the image to the right.
Feedback from one of the women on her experience of attending the groups and what it has meant to her.
“I have always been a person who likes 1 to 1 meetings and always found groups a struggle but as I want to better myself I have been loving the group’s I don’t feel to be shying away, I can speak my mind without anyone judging me, and we can all trust each other and help whenever we can, with a small group we all bond well as a family, and in time I would love to help others like circle has helped me.
I wouldn’t do anything different, everyone has there own ways in taking classes but with this group it just seems right cause I know the light is there. Thank you all for your support and making me a stronger minded person.”
Half Term ZOOM Activities
Fun times were had by all the little kids, the big kids and the adult kids! As you can see from the colourful arts & crafts creations.
School holidays can be a difficult period for the families we support as they struggle to cope with increased childcare demands and costs. These challenges are heightened by Covid with many of the usual children’s activities closed and their support networks unavailable.
We’d like to say a big thanks to ‘St Mary’s For All’ who kindly provided us with a donation that enabled us to buy everything we needed to support children and families during half-term.
Also a big thanks to Morrison’s in Hamilton (South Lanarkshire) who donated lots of delicious Easter Eggs. We’re sure that the Easter bunny was delighted with the extra support at this busy time of year!
If you’d like more information about our FABI project then please contact Georgina.Lyttle@Circle.Scot
Harbour Project (Edinburgh)
It has been a busy start to 2021 for the Harbour Project, with COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit our ability to meet families in groups. Therefore our online group activities, via Zoom, resumed in January in addition to all of the individual family support being delivered.
The Zoom groups have really been valued by the families we support and they have appreciated being involved in planning the content and activities. Currently we have a Mums group, a Dads group and a Family Activity group, all running weekly. Two members of the team are also piloting a group aimed at families with younger children – an online ‘Parent and Toddler’ group, as this was identified as something parents were missing out on.
Our Mums group has focussed on the theme of ‘self-care’ and they have explored a range of things including the use of mindfulness and affirmations. Some of our Mums created lovely ‘self-care boxes’ as a ‘go to’ in times of stress. The families have engaged with lots of fun activities together recently including button art which produced some lovely canvas art.
We have been busy with students on placement too with two of our Family Outreach Workers Practice Teaching as well. The students have had the opportunity to engage with the Zoom programmes which has added another dimension to their learning. You can read more about the experiences of Circle’s latest student recruits here – https://circle.scot/meet-the-new-students-at-circle/
If you’d like more information about our Harbour project then please contact – Julie.King@Circle.Scot
Other Projects
Our East Lothian project also has some exciting news which you can find here – https://circle.scot/announcing-a-new-childrens-resilience-worker-for-east-lothian/